[Greenbuilding] hot water heating options

[Dr. C.F. Vasile]

Since you "only turn it on when we need hot water", the safe thing to do was 
install a tankless electric heater instead of playing craps with your 
family's health by raising Legionella in your "middle price" tank.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Waldrop" <bwaldrop at cox.net>
To: "Bambi Tran" <doingitgreen at yahoo.com>; <greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] hot water heating options


> We installed a new electric 50 gallon tank, but
> had the electrician install an on-off switch for
> it, so we only turn it on when we need hot water.
> We bought the "middle price" version.  We are a
> two person household.  We generally only turn it
> on twice a week during the winter, about 2 hours
> each time.  During the summer, when we were using
> less hot water for showering, we turned it on only
> once each week.   We were very surprised the
> standby losses were so low on the electric tank.
> The first couple of weeks, I kept checking the
> switch to make sure it was off and even called the
> electrician to make sure the switch was working.
> He laughed and told me about the standby losses of
> electric tanks and told me the obvious test to see
> if the switch was operating (look at the electric
> meter when the switch was on and off). [icon of
> hand slapping forhead.]
>
> During the winter, our electrical usage was
> generally in the range 450-500 kilowatt
> hours/month.  This is for lights, cooking,
> refrigeration/freezing, entertainment electronics,
> and hot water.  (We get most of our heat from the
> sun, and use wood for a backup on cloudy days).
>
> We also installed a low flow showerhead and faucet
> aerators.  At the time we installed the hot water
> heater, we had been without running hot water for
> about a year, so I guess we also developed a
> thrifty attitude towards hot water.  Generally, in
> Oklahoma City, during the summer the city water is
> warm enough that hot water isn't needed for
> showers. We don't use air conditioning in the
> summer and so we aren't really interested in hot
> steamy showers in the summer anyway.
>
> This was part of a full re-wire of the house, and
> the tank will work well with a solar hot water
> system when we get the resources for that.
>
> If the electric water heater is on its own
> circuit, you can get the same effect by flipping
> the breaker, but ours are outside, and so we opted
> for an inside switch.
>
> Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bambi Tran" <doingitgreen at yahoo.com>
>>  Thanks for your suggestions. To clarify: The
>> house is currently unoccupied, but the
>> non-profit expects to sell it to a couple with
>> one or two kids. The laundry (washer/dryer) is
>> right next to the full bath on the second floor.
>> The half bath is right next to the kitchen on
>> the first floor. The half bath and full bath are
>> lined up vertically (more or less).
>>
>> We are leaning towards the tankless gas system,
>> but are concerned about the capacity
>> limitations. Anyone have experience with these
>> care to share?
>>
>>  Our second choice would be an electric tank
>> unit for it's efficiency and lower standby loss.
>>
>>  THOUGHTS???
>>
>>  Cheers,
>>  Bambi
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding email list
> List info: 
> http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_listserv.repp.org
> List email: Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
> Managed by BuildingGreen, Inc. http://www.buildinggreen.com
>      publisher of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec(r)
> Hosted and archived by REPP / CREST http://www.crest.org
>